Abstract P6-08-04: Geographical variation of social deprivation, cardiovascular and other comorbidities in 226,516 patients with early breast cancer in England: results from a National Registry Dataset Analysis
Authors: Jasmin V Waterhouse, Catherine A. Welch, Nicolo M.L. Battisti, David Adlam, Michael J. Sweeting, Lizz Paley, Paul Lambert, John E. Deanfield, Mark de Belder, Michael D Peake, Alistair Ring
Journal: Cancer Research (2023)

Abstract Background In England, as for many countries, there are geographical variations in treatment uptake and outcomes for patients with early breast cancer (EBC). It is important such inequalities are addressed. The co-existence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with early breast cancer (EBC) may complicate treatment choices, lead to deviations from standard of care, and be associated with worse cancer and CVD outcomes. Social deprivation is also associated with increased incidence of co-morbidities, reduced cancer treatment rates, and worse cancer survival. If there are regional differences in rates of CVD/co-morbidities and social deprivation these may explain observed differences in treatment uptake and cancer outcomes in EBC. Therefore, in this analysis we evaluated rates of CVD and social deprivation in a large population of patients with EBC in 20 English Cancer Alliances. Methods Cancer registry data as part of The Virtual Cardio-Oncology Research Initiative (VICORI) were used to identify patients diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer diagnosed between 2013 - 2018 in England. National data (hospital records and national cardiovascular audit databases) were used to describe CVD prevalence (CVDp), Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Patient, disease, tumour, and treatment characteristics were allocated into Cancer Alliance tertiles according to CVDp (minimum (&amp;lt; 33.3rd percentile); middle (33.3rd – 66.6th percentile); maximum (&amp;gt;66.6th percentile)) with approximately equal patient numbers in each group. The disease burden was depicted in bar charts and regional variation as heat maps of England. The percentage of patients in the most deprived quintile of income domain of the IMD were plotted. Funnel plots were used to investigate variations in regional CVD rates based on a logistic regression model. Results Data from 226,516 patients with stage I-IIIA breast cancer with a mean age of 62.5 (+/- 13.7) were included in the analysis. 78,833 patients were assigned to the minimum (37.0%; 95% CI 36.7 – 37.2), 74,443 to the middle (35.5%; 95% CI 35.3 – 35.7), and 73,240 to the maximum (34.7%; 95% CI 34.5 – 34.9) tertile. Geographical variation between Cancer Alliances was demonstrated for CVDp (6% - 9.5%), IMD (2%- 30%), and CCI  4 (8.2% - 9.5%). Variation of CVDp revealed a South/North gradient between Cancer Alliances towards higher percentage, with centrifugal tendency from London. These findings were consistent with a similar pattern seen for variation in IMD quintiles with higher prevalence of most socioeconomic deprived patients located in cancer alliances in the North compared to the South of England. Regional variation was less obvious for CCI. After adjusting for age, TNM stage, IMD, and CCI, differences in the standardised CVD ratio persisted for some cancer alliances suggesting that other factors than those adjusted for are likely accountable for the higher CVDp seen in some Cancer Alliances. An adjusted ordinal logistic regression model demonstrated that older age (aged &amp;gt;75), white ethnicity, and social deprivation were associated with a higher risk of CVDp (p&amp;lt; 0.001). Conclusions This study highlights significant geographical variation of social deprivation, CVDp, and other comorbidities in early breast cancer patients in England which may contribute to the variability in treatment received and breast cancer survival in different regions within the country. Citation Format: Jasmin V Waterhouse, Catherine A. Welch, Nicolo M.L. Battisti, David Adlam, Michael J. Sweeting, Lizz Paley, Paul Lambert, John E. Deanfield, Mark de Belder, Michael D Peake, Alistair Ring. Geographical variation of social deprivation, cardiovascular and other comorbidities in 226,516 patients with early breast cancer in England: results from a National Registry Dataset Analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-08-04.